The last weeks of July
saw an amazing amount of rain falling, and the vlei filled
up to an extent not seen for a few years. The pelicans took
to huddling on small islands in what had become a large body
of water. It was an impressive sight. The model aircraft
club facilities were totally submerged and the bird hide was
surrounded by water. To view some very fine photographs on
our website, go to the Picture
Gallery. The actual figures for this winter (2007) taken
at the entrance gate off Sandpiper Rd, Table View, are:

April 63mm, May 42mm,
June 75mm, July 96mm. The highest monthly rainfall last year
was May at 104mm. Rietvlei is also impacted by the amount of
rain falling over its catchment area, stretching as far as
Malmesbury. There is still hope that more rain will come
that will assist with scouring out the system.

ACTIVITIES

Our next walk will be
held on Sunday 19 August, and we will visit the Bird Hide.
We will be meeting at the Education Centre at 2pm for some
refreshments and a chat, before setting out for the Bird
Hide at 2.30 pm. Feel free to bring friends and family and
join us on this walk. All are most welcome. Bring binoculars
if you have them, otherwise there are some that you may
borrow.

Our next Evening Talk
will be on Thursday 13 September. The talk will be given by
Leonie Joubert, who will be talking on "Global warming and
the Western Cape - signs of change in our natural spaces".
Please join us at the Rietvlei Education Centre, off
Sandpiper Rd, Table View (behind the Milnerton Aquatic Club)
at 19h30 for 20h00. All are welcome.

There will be another
Diep River walk on Sunday 16 September and we are hoping to
arrange a walk, possibly on Sunday 7 October, on the
Duikersvlei site (old Kynoch site). So please diarise these
dates and we will give confirmation and details in the next
newsletter or the website.

Our June Evening Talk saw
approximately 20 members attending the presentations by the
students of their projects for the year. It was a cold night
and we especially want to thank members and the students for
coming. It is always interesting to be kept up to date with
the research projects that are being undertaken at Rietvlei.

If you have internet
access, you are encouraged to access our site on a regular
basis. It provides links to other sites, including that of
the BCA (Blaauwberg Conservation Area). It also gives
up-to-date information relating to our activities. For
telephonic queries on events please contact our Secretary,
Pauline Potton, on 021 557 6920 a/h.

WESSA

Please be aware that the
next Friends Workshop is scheduled for Friday the 21st
September 2007 from 1 - 4 pm. They are thinking of focusing
on a financial theme looking at general financial matters in
relation to Friends Groups, fundraising (as previously
requested at last Friends Workshop), Resource Economics etc.
If you have any pointers you would like to add to this theme
or even other ideas they can include, please send these
through ASAP so they can begin searching for speakers and
developing the agenda. Any members interested in attending
can contact Pauline on 021 557 6920 a/h or on our email
address.

EDUCATION……

A number of schools have
applied to come to visit the reserve, including Table View
Primary, which is bringing eight Grade 3 classes. They are
regular visitors to our centre. It is encouraging to see the
school educating their learners, year after year, on the
importance of Rietvlei, as well showing it as an enjoyable
place to visit. Contact us on info@friendsofrietvlei if you
know of any schools who would like to visit Rietvlei.

A scout group held a
sleep-over at the Milnerton Aquatic Club recently. This
event was attended by the Rietvlei Conservation Students and
apparently the scouts enjoyed the event and learnt a lot
about night-life in the reserve!

THE FYNBOS FORUM

The Fynbos Forum is an
affiliation of researchers, planners, managers, landowners
and a range of other stake-holders that meets annually to
discuss management issues and research results, and to
formulate priorities for future research and conservation
management actions required to ensure the conservation and
sustainability of Fynbos ecosystems. In order to achieve
this goal, they undertake to assess biological resources,
ensure institutional capacity and consider socio-economic
issues. They meet annually and this year it was held at Club
Mykonos from 1 – 3 August. Elana Kellerman, Rietvlei
student, was invited to present a poster on her research
project that she has been undertaking at Rietvlei. We look
forward to seeing the poster and hearing her findings when
the students attend our November meeting.

Also at the Fynbos Forum
was Jeremy Keyser, a past student at Rietvlei. Jeremy is
currently working for Planning in Balance, who undertake the
environmental control and management work at Royal
Ascot/Milnerton Racecourse Conservation Area. Jeremy
presented a poster on Milnerton Racecourse Conservation
Area. Hopefully we can get Jeremy to show us his poster also
at our November meeting.

RESERVE MANAGER

Koos Retief has been
working at Rietvlei Wetland Reserve for many years,
initially as Environmental Site Officer. The City of Cape
Town has eventually sorted out Koos’ placement in the new
city structure. He is now officially “Reserve Manager”.
Congratulations Koos!, and we look forward to your
continuing service and leadership at Rietvlei as a properly
placed official!!

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT ACT (1998) – BASIC ASSESSMENT

The latest documentation
to cross our desks is that of the Basic Assessment (BA) for
the Proposed Upgrading of Koeberg & Plattekloof Roads,
Milnerton. For those of you who travel that route regularly
or occasionally you will know that there can be a build up
of traffic morning and evening. This BA comes after the
studies for the realignment of Duikersvlei ( the stream that
crossed diagonally over the old AECI fertilizer factory
site) and studies for the phased redevelopment of the site
to industrial, business and retail uses. Apart from the pure
traffic issues we are concerned that any upgrades to Koeberg
Road do not impact Duikersvlei and the pipeline under
Koeberg Road which leads to Rietvlei. Contaminants or silt
will have an effect on Rietvlei. The consultants are DJ
Environmental Consultants, tel 021 851 0900, fax 021 851
0933 and email
nick@djec.co.za if you want to comment. All comment to
be in by 3 September 2007.

POTSDAM WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS

Niel Van Wyk is now the Friends of Rietvlei representative
on the Environmental Liaison Committee for this upgrade. At
the meeting on 19 July 2007 it was reported that the upfront
capacity (first phase of upgrade) is progressing well and
that 9 Mℓ/d are being treated via this component. They are
pleased with ammonia and phosphate removal and the effluent
should be suitable for UV treatment when the infrastructure
is in place. Scum formation, however, remains a problem and
is being addressed.

Thanks go to Chevron Refinery for
sponsoring envelopes for the posted newsletter.